My
explorations about life started after I graduated from the
university. It looked like I was thirsty because for all the five
years in the university, my fixation was on reading engineering
books.

It
was natural to delve deeper the same way a junkie needs fixes on
daily basis. I began to amass snippets of motivation. I read and read
and read. So, when the urge to write my first book came, the
excitement to see my face and name on a book trumped every other
thing. Nothing else mattered. That was how it came to be. My name and
picture were on the front cover of the book. Goal achieved.

I
never told anyone about the book during the writing stage. To me, it
was a baby that everyone would love. That same month of its birth,
reality showed up as it would always do.

After
a month of shoving, huffing and puffing, selling just 300 copies,
sales tanked. I was flattened, exhausted and depressed. I struggled
in the coming months, selling some, and giving away the rest.

Reading
this book, I did a perfect diagnosis of my past failures and
discovered the root. I had cobbled all the snippets I’d gathered
over the years, fleshed them up, and voila!

Did
I even know the purpose for my writing? I doubt. I just wrote to be
called an author. In retrospect, the WHY was critically absent from
the equation. That in itself, is a self-sabotaging disaster.

Did
I understand for whom I was writing? I simply said to myself, “My
book is too cute, everybody will read and enjoy it.” In my typical
style, I packed in high-sounding words as an attestation of my
writing prowess. It wasn’t a good taste to my mouth to hear readers
tell me they kept a dictionary by the side when leafing through the
pages.

Chapter
2 of this book completely addresses the issue of audience, providing
copious questions to reflect on, a template worth documenting and
making referrals each time you commence on a new literary adventure
that will culminate in a book that your readers will relish.

Tracing
a parallel between writers and soldiers, Sampson drew me into a
loving embrace with a paradigm that on the one hand buttresses a
belief system I’d always had and strengthening it on the other
hand, an injection that all writers must receive if being legendary
is the ultimate goal.

Writing
is hard work. Writing is a serious business. Writing is a profession.
Writing is a calling.

What
makes a guy like Jim Collins (and others) sell over ten million
copies of his book while others struggle to survive on peanuts
scratched from here and there? Their secret is simple: They prepare
for the conception and birthing processes like soldiers who are going
to battle. Such predilection towards their works is so infectious
that it is thoroughly transforming.

I
have a cousin who dedicates a portion of his monthly salary to buying
books. He was once scared of walking into a bookshop because he’d
walk out with empty pockets. He used to be powerless before books,
wobbling to his knees at the splendour of displayed book titles that
he’d spend everything in his pockets. He read voraciously. Little
did he know he was grooming a habit that would pay off. As at the
time of writing this, he’s sold more than 10,000 copies of his
book.

To
be an excellent writer, reading is non-negotiable. To me, it’s
spiritual, weaved into the fabric of our existence as writers.

One
of the things I found when I began my journey of self-awareness was
the “be do have” system that is fundamental if your goal was to
live your life purposefully on the earth. You become, you do, and you
have.

So,
would you want to write and publish? You do!

Do
you want to rank among the greats? I hear the whispers of your heart
say Yes!

Do
you want your written works to penetrate hearts, ferry your words to
places unimaginable, and live prosperously? You do!

In
essence, you become that person by virtue of means of affirmations
and mind reframing. You do what it takes to transform your thoughts
into written formats. Consequently, you have your socks filled with
goodies that attend to such daring acts.

This
book will show you how to do!

Lastly,
thrown into the belly of this book are explanations about the
externals that embed books into the hearts of the readers. Playing
very significant roles are titles, book cover designs, volume,
blurbs, and author photograph. Wondering how these affect reception
and sales of your books? You’ve just got to dive into the book and
swallow all the words to the last jot. I mean to the very last jot.

If
there’s a manual that can start you on the path of the legends you
adore, it’s this book.

Read
it, practice it, and point it to your friends. How best to birth more
legends than to do so.

Dive
in now!

Emeka
Nobis

Author,
GROW YOUR PLATFORM

www.emekanobis.com

Chapter
One

ANSWER
THE BIG QUESTION

When
Stephen R. Covey died on July 16, 2012, at the age of Seventy Nine,
all of us who drank from his deep well of wisdom were shocked.
Millions of us all over the world grieved the loss of a great teacher
whose research and teachings will remain a powerful force for good
even for generations ahead. He was a teacher, but probably, he’ll
be most remembered for his books.

Dr.
Covey is the author of several acclaimed books, including the highly
successful international bestseller, the
7 Habits of Highly Effective People, which
was named the Number 1 Most influential Business Book of the
twentieth century, and one of the top-ten most influential management
books ever. It has sold more than 15 million copies in thirty-eight
languages throughout the world. Some of his international bestsellers
includes First
Thing First, Principle-Centered Leadership and
The
7 Habits of Highly Effective Families; bringing
the combined total to more than 20 million books sold.

Twenty
million books sold by
one man when millions of others struggle to even write their first
book, and those who ever manage to write theirs hardly find their way
to publish and release their ideas to the world. Twenty
million books
when most writers who invest thousands upon thousands of dollars,
plus hundreds of hours of study and hard work, would count it a major
miracle to sell even one thousand copies of their book. (Oh yes! a
thousand copies is really a miracle in an industry where over 1 000
000 books are published in the United States alone every 12 months).

If
you are like most authors you may already know that the book world is
really a tough merciless world. Sorry I am starting tough; but I want
to say it as it really is.

I’ve
been training writers through my training company Profitable Writers
Academy. I know writers want me to tell them that writing is easy and
all-fun. They want me to be that kind of guy who stands up to tell
them that their first book will surely make it to the New York Times
bestseller list in the first 12 months of publishing, (I am not a New
York Bestseller myself, yet), that writing and publishing their novel
or biography or a how-to-do-this-or-that-book will be a gold mine.
But I am not that kind of guy. I will not give you false hopes. I’ve
chosen to tell my clients and readers the hard truths about the book
world. Hopefully, they will find in my bitter teachings how to carve
a place for themselves in the book world.

Most
writers dabble into the book writing, publishing, promotion and
marketing industry without understanding the basics first. Much like
trying to solve calculus without understanding simple algebra. Or
building a skyscraper without laying a solid foundation. Isn’t it
laughable?

It
is true that everybody has a book or two inside them. In fact, any
normal human being alive today can become a published author within
the next couple of months.

However,
I am not writing to that kind of guy who just want to have his ideas
within the pages of a book. My trainings and events for writers are
not really for those who merely want to have their picture at the
back or front cover of a book. Really, my work for writers is aimed
at raising writers – anybody for that matter – who are willing to
calm down and learn the hidden secrets of the book world. I’ve
dedicated myself and one of my companies to unravelling those
secrets, formulas, technologies and platforms that were formerly
available only to the ultra-rich, ultra-famous authors. I want to
make this secrets available to the everyday people of our world who
have a story or insight to share with their world – because I am
one of them.

I
learnt some of the secrets by costly trial and error methods. Oh!
yes; I’ve wasted a lot of time and my hard earned money in book
publishing. I learnt some of the secrets here by careful study of the
industry. I’ve followed all those great guys whose name top the New
York Times bestseller list. Some of the popular writers have talked
in my writers workshops. I’ve learnt from them. Their secrets are
no longer secrets! I’ve done the work of unveiling them for you.
Your part now is to learnand
apply
the
wisdom I’ve worked hard to uncover for you here.

Everything
I’ll show you here will work for you. You may not end up as a
bestseller (I pray you do!), but sure, you will become one of those
few fulfilled authors.

So
let’s get to the meat of the matter: Highly
profitable writers answer the big question.
They answer the WHYquestion!
This is really the foundation of the whole writing process.
First-things-first! That’s also true in the book world.

I’ve
encountered folks who want to churn out books just because they want
to see their names and photograph at the cover of books. I’ve
learnt that that is a big error!

All
those big guys in the book world have really taken time to know WHY
they want to introduce another book to the world even when a lot of
the ones that have been published have not been given much attention.
They know the reason for their effort. They know WHY another book
must be introduced to the world. They have the needed deep
conviction. They have a hot internal motivating factor. They’ve
taken time to answer this often forgotten question:

“Why
do I want to write, publish and market a book; when the world have
not paid much attention to the million – if not billions – of
books already written and published?”

The
truth is that until you answer the above question, I cannot really
help you; even if you were to meet me one on one. My books,
trainings, and events cannot help you until you take out time to
answer that question. You see, I cannot tell you HOW until you find
your WHY!

In
early 2016 I read with admiration the stories of the great leader of
Singapore Lee Kuan Yew. Reading the stories of his struggles, pain,
strategies, sacrifices, mistakes and victories is sure to motivate
any keen reader. His books have gone all around the world. His books
have achieved that kind of success you and I dream for our books. In
his book From
Third World To First: Singapore and the Asian Economic Boom,
he points to the WHY behind all his efforts to write his really
voluminous books. Lee wrote in the very first paragraph of the
preface:

“I
wrote this book for a
young generation of Singaporeans
who took stability, growth and prosperity for granted. I
want them to know how difficult it was
for a small country of 640sq.km with no natural resources to survive
in the midst of larger, newly independent nations all pursuing
nationalistic policies”

Hope
you now get what I am talking about. Every great writer I’ve
studied knows WHY they are writing. They don’t just write another
story; they have a REASON behind every word, every sentence, every
advice, every story they write. I see this in all my writing heroes -
Stephen Covey, Jim Collins, Larry King, Chinua Achebe, Nelson
Mandela, Tony Ubesie, Chinedum Ofomata, Eze Nnaemeka Charles (Nani
Boi) and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. They all know WHY.

The
wisdom for you as an upcoming writer is simply to do what those
successful guys are doing. Because if you do what successful people
do, you will also become successful.

Let
me now put the question directly to you:

“Why
do you want to write, publish and market a book, when the world have
not paid much attention to the millions - if not billions – of
books already published?”

It’s
up to you to figure this out. It may take weeks, months or even years
before you arrive at the core of why you want to be called an author.
It may be difficult at first, but keep searching. Your
success/failure in this our book industry depends largely on your
answer to that question.

Here
is a list of WHY people write and publish books:

To
tell a story.

To
share an experience.

To
correct an error.

To
document their experiences.

To
publicize a discovery.

To
motivate.

To
entertain.

To
make extra income.

To
inspire.

To
increase their reach.

To
share a knowledge.

To
fight ignorance.

For
me, I write to fight Ignorance. This is because I believe ignorance
is the greatest enemy to the human race. It’s an enemy more
dangerous than Boko Haram or ISIS, more dreadful than cancer or AIDS,
more damaging than even sin!

Really,
that’s why I teach in schools, do radio programs, organize events
and workshops, write articles for my blog, write and publish books,
preach, and serve as a guest speaker in a variety of programs. I’ve
found my WHY.

My
advice: Dedicate
the next 2 – 4 weeks to finding your WHY.

Chapter
Two

ANOTHER
BIG QUESTION

If
you grew up in the Akegbe-Ugwu neighborhood where I grew, it won’t
take you long to appreciate the game of soccer. The game was at the
center of our childhood days. We played it with oranges, melon and
any other soft object we could set our eyes on. We’d just come
together, remove our slippers, mark out our post and then the game
starts.

Although
I don’t get to play and see soccer now as before, I still have a
liking for it.

The
thing that intrigue me now about the game is how we’ll struggle and
sweat, and do all the dribbling and throw-ins and tackling just to
get the ball within the already marked out goal post. You know, we
wouldn’t even start the game unless we mark out our target point.
We call it the goal post.

This
post is really the heart of the game. It determines who wins at the
end of the whole running up and down. It gave us direction and focus.
We don’t play the game wondering the direction to face. We don’t
really mind the scorching heat of the sun, or a few bruises on our
bare feet, as long as the goal post is there.

Writing
is pretty much like soccer. We are into the game of writing because
we want to win (remember THE BIG QUESTION). It’s that desire to win
the writing game that drives the whole writing process.

It
wouldn’t take much time before you realize that in writing, just
like in the game of soccer, you need to have a definite target. In
public speaking, we call it your target audience.

You’ll
be fooling yourself if you think you are writing to everybody. Let’s
just face the fact: You can’t write to everybody. Your book cannot
be for every class of people. There are some races that won’t need
your book. Certain age bracket will not find your book meaningful.
(Just imagine Adam Smith trying to sell his book The
Wealth of Nations to
primary school children or Nani Boi toiling to get university
professors to become his major readers!)

While
certain category of people may need your book, another category may
not even care about you. You know why?

People
have different information needs. People have limited reading time
and so they want to invest that time into the kind of books that will
meet their information need. If you ignore that fact, your book will
be dead even before you write it.

So
let me help you before you make the popular mistake: Deliver yourself
from the Jack-Of-All-Trade-Master-Of-None trap. Oh yes! Writing your
book for just everyone is a trap. It will trap your money, your time,
your ideas and ultimately, it will dash your expectations, and even
discourage you from writing another book.

Every
book deserves to fly but trying to write your book for just any kind
of person will break the wings of your book. Honestly that’s why
many well-written, professionally published books are staked in the
garage of their writers. Why sabotage your own book?

Remember
Lee Kuan Yew. He was clear about who he was writing to: ‘I
write this book for a younger generation of Singaporeans...’ My
point here is quite simple and fundamental, but many writers will
never adhere to it – to their own detriment!

When
I wrote my book Welcome
to Secondary School, I
knew I have no business writing the book for university
undergraduates or even WAEC candidates. It would have been foolish
for me to try adapting the book to suit everyone. But I narrowed
everything down to new entrants into secondary schools. No wonder the
book is selling fast.

That
strategy of narrowing down to a core audience helped me to know
exactly how to market my book and get my money back. It helped me in
deciding the tone of my book, the kind of pictures/charts I needed
and even the ideal page volume for the book. Therefore when the book
came out, I knew exactly how,
when
and where
to market it.

But
in writing my book, Succeeding
Successfully in WAEC/NECO Examinations, I
knew I must be definite about my target readers. So I choose
WAEC/NECO candidates. I had to deliver myself from trying to
generalize the book to fit any kind of student. With that, the
headache of wondering how, when and where to market my book was
cured.

No
matter what you write, do not deceive yourself by writing for
everybody. My book How
to Perform Wonders with your Mouth is
really not for everybody. I know my target. It is for teenagers and
young adults having the difficulty of public speaking. With that
knowledge I knew, even before going to press, the kind of online and
offline bookshops to place it in, the kind of advert that will
promote it effectively, the price to ask for the book, the ideal
number of pages etc.

You
know what? Writing becomes easy when you write with a target group of
readers in mind. This entails that you clearly determine the
following:

If
taking time to determine who you are writing that novel, poem,
autobiography, prayer booklet, motivational, devotional etc. to is
really a big burden to you, then sorry, writing may not be for you!

Remember
I am telling you what the big, successful guys in the writing
industry do. They simply determine the direction for each of their
books. They’re simply not the-Jack-of-all-Trade-Master-of-none kind
of people. They know that success in this increasingly competitive
book industry depends on narrowing each of your books to a given
audience. The message is simple: the
Narrower, the Better!

“But
Sampson,” you
may want to scream out,
“don’t you realize that narrowing down my readers will limit the
reach of my books?”

Look,
what I am just advocating here is that you know the direction to
channel your books in terms of your target readers. That’s really
the way to prevent confusion. Nothing is as bad as being confused on
what to do with thousands of copies of your book when your money is
already tied up.

Once
you have a specific audience, you can easily:

Determine
the appropriate tone for your book.

Determine
the acceptable page volume for your book.

Determine
the acceptable price to ask for your book.

Determine
where to place your book so they can be seen by those who really
need it.

Determine
the kind of advertisement to use in promoting the book.

Let
me now put the question more directly to you: “Who
in the whole wide world are you writing to”.

Remember,
the
Narrower, the Better!!

Chapter
Three

PREPARE
FOR BATTLE

In
this our vast book industry, there are certain authors whose success
stories I admire. The quality of their books and the numerous
quantity they sell is mouthwatering. One of such writers is Jim
Collins.

Jim
Collins is author or co-author of six books that have sold in total
more than 10 000 000 copies worldwide; including the bestsellers
Good
to Great, Built to Last, and
How the Mighty Fall.
Jim began his research and teaching career on the faculty at Stanford
Graduate School of Business, where he received the Distinguished
Teaching Award in 1992. He now operates a management laboratory in
Boulder, Colorado, where he conducts research, teaches and consults
with executives from the co-operate and social world.

Is
there anything we can learn from Jim? A writer who have sold over ten
million copies? Actually there is something Jim Collins knows and
does for his books that has set him and his products apart. You know
his secret? Well that’s what I’ll show you in this chapter.

My
programs has exposed me to many authors. I’ve encountered both
published writers whose only headache is how to sell the thousands of
copies of their books packed in their garage. I’ve trained those
still aspiring to put their words together. They are also those whose
books are selling, but still feel unfulfilled.

You
know one of the errors I’ve noticed among many published and
aspiring writers? It is that many
of us who get into writing come into it thinking that it is a
lazy man’s escape route.

“After
all,” many
people will argue, “its
just a matter of putting words down on paper, publishing it and then
throwing it all out to the helpless public”.
Nothing can be farther from reality!

Oh!
how I wish writing is as simple and easy as it appears on the
surface. How I wish its just a matter of putting my persuasions down
on paper. How I wish it doesn’t involve all those research and
thinking and study and editing and re-editing.

Let
me be blunt here: Writing is not for lazy people. Its not for those
guys looking for an easy way to become famous and capture a lot of
cash. Writing is hard work! We may not like it but that’s the
truth.

I
see writers as Soldiers. They are soldiers who fight a war against
ignorance. It may be ignorance in business or family life or
spiritual growth. It may be ignorance on how to enjoy oversea travels
or a vacation in the Bahamas. Or on how to restore a dying
relationship. The world is really being tormented by the terrorism of
ignorance. We that are into writing are the major soldiers who combat
that terrorist.

I
need you to know this and please never permit yourself to forget it:
Every
writer is fighting a war against an ancient enemy called Ignorance,
and that enemy is really a strong, smart and stubborn monster.

It
is only laughable that we want to fight this battle without adequate
preparation. Our books are our weapons, therefore we must take time
to plan and prepare.

Many
writers ignore this fact to their own detriment. They publish what
they think is a nice Holy-Ghost-Inspired book and then realize that
no body, except a few of their family and church members, is
interested in their ‘nice’ book. They now have to pack their
books, published with their hard earned money (or even borrowed
money!) in a corner of their room.

I
think I should repeat it again: Writing
is not a game for lazy people. It is for determined, dedicated,
patient, teachable and open minded people. It is for people willing
to learn the tricks and pay the price.

Lets
return to Jim Collins. A guy who’s sold over ten million copies. 10
000 000 copies of books in an industry as competitive as ours! There
must be something he and other authors like him know about writing
that a host of mediocre writers don’t know. Their secret is simple:
They
prepare for battle.

Jim
Collins is probably remembered more as a writer of well researched
business books. He wrote Great
by Choice with
Morten T. Hansen, a book which is also an amazing success by any
standard. Jim tells us the secret behind his great success as a
writer:

“We
began the nine-year
research project
behind this book in 2012... This led us to a simple question: Why do
some companies thrive in uncertainty, even chaos, and others do
not?...

“We
labeled our high-performing study case with the monitor ‘10X’

“We
spent the first year of our effort identifying the primary study set
of 10X cases. From an initial list of 20
400 companies,we
systematically sifted through 11
layers of cuts
to identify cases that met all our tests.

“We
then performed a deep historical analysis of each pair companies. We
collectedmore
than seven thousand historical documents
to construct a clear understanding of how each company evolved, year
by year, from founding through 2002.

“We
(meaning Jim Collins and Morten T. Hansen his co-author, with a
team of more than twenty researchers!)developed
the concepts of this work from data we gathered, building a framework
from the ground up. We followed an iterative approach, generating
ideas inspired by the data, testing those ideas against the evidence,
watching them bend and buckle under the weight of evidence, replacing
them with new ideas, revising, testing, revising yet again, until all
the concepts square with the evidence”

I
had to take you through that long line of analysis just to let you
peep into the kind of thinking, study, time and research that went
into the writing of a single book. Just
one book!

Patience
and dogged preparation is a pattern I see in all the Jim Collins
books. I see it in Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s books. (In fact I
watched an interview of Chimamanda where she revealed that in writing
her book Half
of a Yellow Sun
she had to research and study like one preparing for a major academic
paper).

Here
is the key I want you to take out from all this: Prepare
for your book.

TWO
KINDS OF PREPARATION.

I
teach that every writer should embrace both passive
and
active
preparation for writing their book.

By
passive preparation I mean continuous-never-ending-general learning.
Learning should simply be a lifestyle for everybody interested in
writing.

By
active preparation, you engage yourself to read and research
information relevant to the current book you are writing. If you are
writing, say, about tourism in Ghana, then you will need to focus
your study on Ghana. You will need to read up everything you can find
on Ghana, especially as it relates to tourism.

The
Golden Rule for writers is: BECOME A VORACIOUS LEARNER. BECOME A
HUNTER FOR RELEVANT IDEAS. I’ve dedicated the next chapter to help
you in this area.

Chapter
Four

ACTIVATE
YOUR WRITING BLUETOOTH

How
do you determine a successful author? For me it is that guy who
writes great books, that are published in a great way, read by
numerous great people who drive great testimonies from reading the
book; and then as a result, the author achieves great satisfaction,
receives great opportunities, meets great people, receives greater
insight to write and share his stories and persuasions with an
increasing circle of readers. Peter Daniels have met all those
criteria:

He
has written many great books that are published in great ways. His
books are read by hundreds of thousands of people all over the world
who attest to the effectiveness of the ideas Peter shares through his
books. He have achieved the kind of success all of us pray for.

Peter
Daniels came from a poor dysfunctional background and suffered from
ill health and dyslexia (meaning he has a learning disorder from
birth!). In fact he never passed one grade at school. No wonder one
of his school teachers always told him that he would never amount to
anything.

The
rise of Peter Daniels was painfully slow; commencing fulltime menial
work at thirteen years of age until he became a bricklayer and
stonemason working piecework sometimes from 6am to 8pm seven days a
week. He became born again in 1959 in South Australia.

In
pursuit of his life dreams he purchased three dictionaries to
understand words, and practiced pronunciation and speech by listening
to British broadcast on radio. Without
a tutor or mentor he studied
economics, politics, modern and ancient history, theology, law,
philosophy and business.

He
soon discovered that the human mind was like a muscle and could be
developed, and has
now personally read over 5 000 biographies.

He
has authored over
twenty books
and authored numerous business education programs that are
distributed
worldwide in many languages.

Everybody
interested in writing needs to know this rule (this is the secret of
Peter Daniels): Writing
is for readers.
You should never expect your book to be read if you are not willing
to buy and read the books already written by others. Helen Hayes said
that when books are opened, we discover that we have wings. Peter
Daniels was able to overcome his limitations because he opened books.

Reading
is a personal thing. We all have varying ways of acquiring the
information we need. Yet I’ll offer the following guidelines:

Make
Reading a Lifestyle:
Reading is simply not negotiable if you are serious about writing.
You can’t survive without it. If we all dedicate ourselves to
constant study, then we will experience little or even no prolonged
writers block. In fact writers block in most cases is an indication
that you need to draw back and read more. Prolonged block can be
avoided if you embrace reading as a lifestyle.

In
a recent Facebook post to writers I said: Writers
don’t read books. That’s for ordinary souls. Guess what we do? We
eat
books!!

My
rule is that you must have read at least 30 books in any field you
want to become an authority in. Just determine the things you need to
know and then search and get the relevant materials.

Create
a Reading Time Table:Although
most of us who are already immersed into constant reading may not
necessarily need a time table, I still think it descipline
and strict time management. think its important; especially if you
are just forming it as a new habit. This requiresis
important; especially if you are just forming it as a new habit.
This requires discipline and strict time management.

No
matter how you choose to go about your reading journey (remember I
said it is a personal thing), always remember that the quality
(in terms of how much benefits your readers will be able to drive
from reading your book) and the quantity
(in
terms of the number of pages you will be able to write) of the books
you write will depend less
on a flash of book inspiration and muchmore
on
the quality and quantity of information you have regarding that flash
of book inspiration.

In
as much as your book writing centers on an original insight, that
flash of insight is always only a skeleton, which when written down,
can hardly fill one page of a notebook. If you just depend on that
tiny flash of book idea for the story and discovery you want to write
about, then you may be better off writing pamphlets.

Why?
Real book writing is exclusively for voracious readers.

Factor
in Book Purchasing into your Monthly/Yearly Financial Budget:I
said earlier that it won’t just work if you expect others to spend
their hard earned money buying your book while you refuse to invest
your own penny in buying books written by others.

Whether
you buy online or in your favorite brick-and-mortar bookstore, you
will still need financial investment if you are really serious about
establishing yourself as an authority in the writing world.

Its
just common sense. Decide on a percentage of your monthly income from
your job, business or even royalties from your already published
books that must
go back into buying capacity building materials you need (books,
tapes, paying for trainings, mentorship classes and seminars).

“But
Ah! Sampson, I am always busy,” you
may want to scream loud at me,
“I don’t even have the time to read the ones I’ve got”

The
strong truth is that if you are too busy to read books; then you
should better start thinking of other things because writing is
certainly not for you. You cannot thrive in this our ever
competitive, content-driven, efficiency-demanding, always-changing
writing world without a hunger to learn and learn and learn again.

Weave
in Capacity Building into your everyday Activities:Just
be creative and consistent about it. Maybe you really don’t have
all the time to read the books, but you can listen to audio books or
talks from your favorite authors or mentors while in your car,
especially if you are not driving. You can read while in the car,
especially when trapped in the middle of traffic.

You
can search the internet and research topics while in the car or the
mall or even during work break.

All
this is to say that you’ve really got no excuse. Just find your way
to weave in capacity building into your everyday activities.

If
you can’t read physical books, read them on your device as an
eBooks. If reading the book will take much of your time, then listen
to the books as an audio book. Attend seminars and workshops. If you
don’t have all the resources to attend an event where your favorite
author/mentor will be speaking, then go to YouTube and download the
video later. Join an online community were other writers share there
experiences.

If
you cannot discipline yourself to do any of the above, then simply
close this book and walk away. Writing is not for you!

I
guarantee that you will always have something relevant to write if
you always find something valuable to read or watch or listen to.

It
worked for bestselling author Peter Daniels. Its sure to work for you
and I.

Chapter
Five

JUST
DO IT!

Writing
is much like traffic; if you wait for all the lights to turn green,
you’ll never move. You may even wait forever.

We
writers know that there is nothing as miserable as having an idea
bottled up in you without doing anything to release it. Instead of
releasing the idea, most folks just cage their idea (which could be
worth millions), waiting for the perfect time.

Can
I be frank with you? There is never a perfect time to do anything.
There is never a time when all the pieces will fall into one place.
Never a time when success is absolutely guaranteed. Never a time when
all the risk factors are eliminated. Never a time when the success of
your book is absolutely guaranteed. Never a time when you are assured
you’ll not lose money. Never a time when you’re 100% certain that
your writing venture will not turn out to be a waste of time.

Let’s
face the fact here. Many people have the idea. They have passed that
elementary stage where they lacked what to write. They have abundance
of ideas, they have done their homework, they have studied the
industry, they even have two or more great mentors; and by now they
should have written two or more books. But they have done nothing.
Their fears have caged them. They are still waiting for all the
lights to turn green.

When
J.K Rowling wrote her first Harry
Potter
book, life was hitting her hard. She was then unemployed and lived on
state benefits. Also then she was diagnosed with clinical depression.
She also suffered from insomnia. She was also then divorced from her
first husband.

As
though all those setbacks were not enough, when she eventually wrote
her original Harry
Potter
manuscripts, twelve publishing houses rejected her book. Little did
anyone know it would become the bestselling book series in history.
Her seventh and final Harry Potter book, Harry
Potter and the Deadly Hallows broke
sales records as the fastest-selling book ever!

Despite
all the odds against her, J K Rowling just went ahead to release her
ideas; and the world has been better for it. In 2000 she was awarded
the Order of the British Empire in Queen’s Birthday Honours. All
these were because she went ahead to write without waiting for all
the lights to turn green.

We
all need to learn from Rowling. Right now you need to make a
commitment to start writing your book because that’s just the way
to start. (I don’t mind if you drop this book right now and pick up
your pen and paper or your laptop to start writing that story you’ve
always wanted to write. Of course I’ll be here patiently waiting
for you to return!)

Every
other thing I’ve shared with you in this book will not help you
unless you bend down and write down those ideas God have planted in
you.

My
way of doing this is simply getting a notebook and making an outline
of the book I have in mind. I write down the chapter topics and then
I begin to develop the topics one after the other. I see my outlined
topic as a bony skeleton. By developing the chapters, I give flesh to
each chapter.

This
stage in developing my book may take months depending on the number
of chapters to work on. Certain chapters may take me only two hours
to develop while another may take weeks or even months in some cases.

A
lot goes into developing a chapter. Sometimes I have to research,
surf the internet, study the stories of men and women that will help
illustrate what I want to talk about, visit friends to get their
perspective on my story, or even read a whole book just to develop a
single chapter.

Remember
I said writing has its own form of hard work. It requires a lot of
researching, surfing the internet, asking questions and then
arranging everything into a logical, coherent and understandable
book.

My
author-speaker-O.A.P friend Uma Uche Gabriel (U.C D M.C) of Solid F.M
writes his books by typing directly into his laptop. For me I prefer
writing on my notebook. Writing is just personal.

So
make a commitment to start writing. Go out now and buy a notebook.
Open a new folder on your computer if that is what works for you.

Make
a commitment to someone who will keep reminding you of your vow to
write. Maybe your spouse, boyfriend/girlfriend, mum, dad, classmate
or your mentor.

Mike
Murdock is a man I consider to be the wisest man on earth today.
(That’s my opinion.) He’s produced over 1 400 books. In fact, at
a time he was writing and publishing one book every single week! One
of the things I’ve learnt from him in this area of writing is how
he motivates himself to write and publish such number of books.

At
the beginning of the year, he would print twelve book covers and
paste around his office. That’s one new book for every month.
Remember these are book covers of books he has not even written!

One
more thing for you to note on this: Never wait until you have a
perfect idea for your manuscript. In fact, there’s nothing like a
perfect manuscript. Who will know if you write and cancel what you’ve
written?

The
important thing is just to do it. Just write it. It may not be
perfect now, but don’t despair. Write it. Cancel or delete it if
you must, but just keep writing, every day, every week, until you get
to that point where you feel you’ve poured out your message or
story in the most clear, coherent, persuasive and reader-friendly
manner.

Why?
Because that’s what writing is all about.

“Excuse
me Sampson,” you
may want to say,
“why should I write when I don’t even have any penny to publish?”

Well,
who told you that you need money to publish? Just follow my advice. I
will show you in my book Publish
and Grow Rich how
to have your books published and available all over the world without
spending any kobo!

So
just do it. Write it. Now!!

Chapter
Six

GET
DOWN TO DETAILS

Molodie
Ramone is one of those fiction writers many aspiring writers would
want to be like. She has published several books including Glimmer,
Burning Down Rome, Lights of Polaris and
the popular After
Forever Ends.

I
found a long quote from her that captures a lot of what we’ve been
saying:

“Write
it. Just write it. Write it on receipts in the car while you wait for
your kid to finish their piano lessons. Scribble on napkins at lunch
with friends. Type on crappy typewriters or borrow computers if you
have to. Fill notebooks with ink. Write inside your head while you’re
in traffic and when you’re sitting in the doctor’s office. Write
the truth, write lies. Write the perfect spouse. Write your dreams.
Write your nightmares. Write while you cry about what you’re
writing, write while you laugh out loud at your own words. Write
until your fingers hurt, then keep writing more. Don’t ever stop
writing. Don’t ever give up on your story, no matter what ‘they’
say. Don’t ever let anybody take away your voice. You have
something to say, your soul has a story to tell. Write it. There is
never any reason to be afraid. Just write it and put it out there for
the world. Shove it up a flag pole and see who salutes it. Somebody
will say it is crap. So what? Somebody else will love it. And that’s
what writing’s about. Love. Love for the art, love of the story,
and love for and from the people who really understand your work.
Nobody else matters. Love yourself. Love your work. Be brave. Just
write.”

Her
statement is so on point that I would want you to pause and return to
it. Read it aloud, twice. You can even read it aloud anytime you
notice yourself withdrawing from writing.

By
now you already understand that the genesis of your success will
depend largely on you lifting your pen to write. As those fresh pushy
book ideas start flooding your mind, just write them down. This
qualifies you to enter the next stage in the writing process.

The
book outline you make serves as the skeleton of your book. Developing
each of the chapters is like giving flesh to those bony skeleton. But
even at that stage, your book won’t fly until you dress it up. This
involves paying attention to details.

TITLE

Pay
attention to the tittle you give your book. Your book is your baby.
Don’t give it a dead, mundane, irritating, easy-to-forget title. I
don’t care how good your book is; if it has a blunt tittle, nobody
will look at it.

Make
enquiries. Go to bookstores and look at winning book titles.

When
I originally wrote my public speaking guide, the title I had for it
was Every
Teen can Speak in Public; but
after research and asking questions, I had two titles to choose from:
How
to Perform Magic with your Mouth and
How
to Perform Wonders with your Mouth.
I was really confused so I went to my students and had them vote for
the two titles. How
to Perform Wonders with your Mouth won
the election; and that became the book title. (Left for me I would
have chosen How
to Perform Magic..... I
just like the word ‘Magic’!).

BOOK
COVER

The
cover of your book is another thing you must pay attention to. Don’t
just take anything your designer bring out for you. The book cover
should be able to capture the essence of what your book is all about.
It should be captivating. It should be able to stir curiosity within
anybody whose eyes fall on your book. It should be able to stick to
memory.

I
don’t encourage you to design your own book cover, except if you
are a pro-designer.

I
suggest you show your cover to friends and critiques to look at. My
method is to just show the cover and ask “What do you think a book
with this cover should be talking about”. If the answers you get
does not agree with what your book is talking about, then return to
the drawing board, because you’ve not gotten the cover your book
deserves. What will it profit a writer if he writes the best book
only to dress it up in an ugly cover?

Another
thing to keep in mind about book covers: Keep
it simple.
You don’t need to cluster it with many colours. Placing a lot of
diagrams will kill your book cover. Keep it as simple, captivating
and professional as possible.

CHAPTER
TITLES

Your
chapter titles must be well developed. You build your message like a
master brick layer; one word at a time. Use simple words. Don’t
fall into the temptation of using far-fetched vocabulary, difficult
charts and irrelevant statistics. Nobody has the time for all those
headaches. Your readers deserve something simple and smooth.

Master
how to use relevant quotes and stories. This will hold the attention
of anybody that open your book.

Each
chapter must agree with other chapters. Imagine somebody telling you
in Chapter One about the recent U.S election only to come down a few
lines below to tell you about irrigation at Nyama River!

Run
away from writing very lengthy, verbose chapters. This will chase
away your readers. Break lengthy chapters into smaller ones.

How
do you get me to read Chapter 2 of your book after reading Chapter 1?
The key is to keep me in suspense. Don’t tell me the end of the
matter in Chapter One. Find your way to keep people in the dark. This
will keep them reading until they get to the last page.

BOOK
VOLUME

Should
your book be voluminous? Well, it depends on a lot of factors; the
most important being your audience.

Are
you writing a book for kids? Then keep it simple, with as few pages
as possible.

Writing
a story book for teenagers? Then don’t waste their time. Don’t
give them a 1 500 page story. Keep it simple. Else they will flip
your book away and buy the latest movie. Just get to the point!

Is
your book for professionals? Then you can get away with your book
being voluminous and full of charts and statistics.

USING
PICTURES

What
about using pictures? This is very important if your book is for kids
and teenagers. Cook books, travel guides and geographical
publications also need graphic illustrations.

BACK
COVER

You
must pay great attention to your back cover. The rule that applies to
the cover also applies here. Keep it as simple and professional as
possible.

Most
authors just write a captivating summery of their book. Others simply
put a simple quote that captures what they’re talking about in the
book. Some others write down what celebrities or their editors and
reviewers said or wrote about them and their book. A few others just
leave the back cover plain.

I
don’t have any hard rules here. Go to your favourite bookstore.
Look around and choose what works best for you. Also, I always advice
that you seek the advice of your publisher.

AUTHOR
PHOTOGRAPH

I
don’t always encourage unknown authors to place their photograph in
their book. But if you must place your picture, ensure the picture is
simple and professional. Your local photographer should be completely
out of this!

You
want those who pick up your book to think of you as a professional
who knows what he is doing, who is not tattered or a village
champion, who is not poor and frustrated. You want them to perceive
you as someone who can help them.

Go
to a professional photo studio and explain what you want. You may
spend more money but they’ll always give you a better photograph
than those other cheap guys.

All
I’ve tried to show you here is how to trim your book and give it an
excellent and professional style. Your readers deserve the best. They
will reward you with their time, they will give you their money, they
will convince their friends to buy your books, they will go out of
their ways to write you beautiful reviews on Amazon or any other
e-Bookstore where you place your book, and they will be eager to buy
your next books. That’s how to write and grow rich.

You
want to connect with SAMPSON UKWU?

That
will be really cool!

You
may be surprised to know that I studied Computer Engineering in the
university. Those five years was really war. It was like I was a
square peg in a round hole. I felt like a dove in a cage; for five
long years!

Thank
God I am now free to spread my wings and fly.

I
fly through my books and students. I move from state to state
organizing Public speaking and Writers workshops.

I
am an ardent believer in books. I literally live within the pages of
books.

My
goal is to raise the competence and profitability of anybody
seriously interested in mastering the art and business of writing and
public speaking.

Some
clients say my products and services are expensive. Well, they always
come back after our first deal. They even refer their friends and
invite me to speak in their events!

So
you finally made it to the last page of Write and Grow Rich?
Congratulations! Are you now ready to read the book Publish
and Grow Rich?
In that book, I’ll show you the secrets behind profitable book
publishing.

Before
then do let me know your thoughts on this book. Was it helpful? Did
it motivate you into action? Will you recommend it to your friends?
Will you review it? Or was it tasteless and a waste of your time? Let
me know here.